Genesis 2

The creation of male and female humans is found in Genesis 1:27; details of that creation are found in Genesis 2. Remember this style as your read the Bible. Often a subject or person is introduced briefly, and then details follow.

Remember also that chapter divisions in the Bible were added apart from God’s inspiration and at a much later time; and sometimes these man-made divisions should be ignored lest continuity of thought be disrupted.

1-3: A 7^th day of rest, a Sabbath. Surely God wasn’t tired and in need of physical rest. What God did here, and what so often happens throughout the history of God’s directing His people, is designed to teach them a lesson about God. The 4^th commandment (Exodus 20:8-11) looks back to this event as the example of resting from our labor in order that we might worship God regularly.

3: Was this 7^th day of rest the conclusion forever of God’s creativity?

4-7: Do not assume that the “laws of nature” on earth have not changed. We know by experience what rain is; but there was no rain in the Garden of Eden. God, who created the earth and the “science” behind it, can suspend or change the “laws of nature” in whatever manner and for whatever duration suits His holy, wise, and beneficent purposes. Remember that God is always a “hands-on” Creator and you will better understand subsequent events. We call them “miracles”, but they are normal activities for an all-powerful God.

7: Man was but a statue of dust until God breathed life into him and man became a living soul. All creatures receive their life from God (Acts 17:25; Job 12:10, 33:4); and should God withdraw His breath, Man will die (Psalm 104:29).

8-15: The garden of Eden must have been a sizeable place.

9: Two special trees in the middle of the garden—the tree of life, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

15: Man’s occupation. Is Man still responsible to dress and keep his environment?

16-17: The first commandment? Permission granted to freely choose to eat the fruit from all the trees except one. Here is Man’s free will expressed and encouraged by God. But with limitation.

17: Violation of the commandment will bring certain punishment—death. Many a child has pilfered fruit and received a thrashing—but death?

18-25: While the products of the six Creation days were declared good, and Man’s existence deemed “very good”, yet God wasn’t finished. God’s design was for male and female humans to interact in a special relationship, helping one another.

19: Adam was not a caveman. He demonstrated intelligence and verbal skills in the recognition and naming of the animals.

19-20: Many animals were available, but God would not have Man be attached to them. (Clearly bestiality is unnatural; and one wonders about those who become overly attached to pets.)

21-23: While Adam was asleep and unaware, God was preparing just the right wife for him. When God brought the woman to the man, Adam quickly (and wisely) accepted her as one with him.

24: This first marriage was intended to be a pattern for all subsequent marriages. God had united them; and He had no intention of allowing them or anyone else to break that union (Matthew 19:4-6).

24: The oneness of this union has ramifications for those who seek sexual gratification outside of marriage (1 Corinthians 6:16).

25: Nakedness and shame. Keep reading into chapter 3 to see how this changes.

Whosoever shall call upon the Lord shall not be ashamed (Romans 9:33; 10:11).

Genesis 3

It seems like only yesterday that Adam and Eve were comfortably settled in Paradise. And today they lose it all for a little piece of fruit.

This chapter can be summed up by the following New Testament commentary:

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (Romans 5:12 )

1: A talking serpent who questions God’s commandment.

2-3: And a woman who adds her own rules to God’s. Many churchmen today do the same thing—adding their own rules and regulations to God’s. See Revelation 22:18-19.

4-5: The father of lies at work. See John 8:44. First he denies the truth of God’s word, and then he suggests that God is guarding His position by denying Adam and Eve the knowledge of good and evil.

6: As we all know, the woman looked and took some of the forbidden fruit and gave it to her husband. Napoleon is reported to have said “I came, I saw, I conquered.” How much sin could be avoided if we were mindful of the children’s song that teaches “Be careful little eyes what you see.”

7-8: What newfound knowledge did they possess? That they were naked before God. That they had disobeyed God. That they should be covered. Innocence lost can never be reclaimed.

And what did they do? The tried to cover up their shame, their nakedness with aprons of fig leaves; and they tried to hide from God when they heard Him approaching—the same things that children have been doing for centuries when faced with being discovered in disobedience: they try to cover it up and they try to hide from consequences.

9: God asked this question for Adam’s sake. We need to hear God ask this question of us, too: Where are we? Are we right with God or are we in a sinful state of estrangement from our Creator?

Are we hiding in the bushes, or are we walking in the Light with our glorious God?

11-13: How often do you blame others for your sin?

1 Timothy 2

12 But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.

13 For Adam was first formed, then Eve.

14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.

15 Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.

14: God doesn’t question the serpent; would you expect the serpent to answer truthfully?

15: The gospel in Genesis. Here is the promise that one born of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent. This “seed” of the woman is Christ, who will suffer at the hands of the serpent, but who will ultimately triumph over sin.

16: The woman will have pain in bearing children and yet it is via child-bearing that her ultimate salvation is accomplished. Further, her relationship to her husband is to be submissive to his leadership.

17: The man must now work, and work hard, to provide for his family. And the work of tending to plants is complicated by the effect that Man’s sin has had on the world around him. The easy life has come to an end.

19: Remind me where I came from…

20: All of us are from the same blood.

21: Sinful Man must be covered; but the product of his sinful hands can never be sufficient covering. The material was ill-suited and the style was corrupt.

22-23: Adam and Eve were evicted for having broken the terms of occupation—they ate forbidden fruit and now they must leave.

24. Yet God mercifully placed Cherubim and a flaming sword at the east end of the garden to keep the way back to God.